Research On Letters By Huang Tingjian

When letter literature enjoyed its prosperity in Song Dynasty,works by Huang Tingjian have won the favor of present readers for their comprehensive and elegant content,as well as the taste both for the divine and the ordinary.In Ming and Qing Dynasty,his collection work Letters of Valley Man had been carved,published and distributed for multiple times,and extensively recorded in both official and private literature collections.Therefore,it could be acknowledged that his work occupies a significant position not only in Song Dynasty but also even across the whole ancient Chinese literature history.Based on the political status of Reformative Party and Conservative Party struggle in mid-post Song Dynasty and on the Yuanyou literary world after "Literature Innovation",the thesis takes the collection by Huang Tingjian as its research object and attempts to discuss its unique significance and value as a literary entity,and its particular influence in continuing Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi's spirit of combining literature with Confucius morality.Firstly,by examining the number of the letters,perusing the text and considering the background,the thesis analyzes the lack of political content in Huang's collection.In the time when the party struggle became increasingly intensive and literature may lead to death disaster,Huang avoided expressing his attitude and comment related to current political affairs in his letters,which reflected his conscious psychological status as literati to avoid troubles for the sake of his own life.Secondly,the thesis investigates Huang Tingjian's aesthetic taste,which is incorporated in his letters and mixed with elegant and ordinary elements.Observed from his description about daily talks and trivial things,plus his poetic figurative methods used,the literati's comfortable and elegant taste can be deeply touched.Thirdly,the thesis makes a summary about the characteristics of linguistic forms in Huang's collection.By flexibly using grammatical structures,allusions and metaphors from ancient literature,his work has deepened the essence of literature with higher readability and aesthetic sense,and reflected the writer's consistent artistic orientation which emphasizes discretion.Lastly,the thesis demonstrates that Huang used letters for maintaining literature and morality within his family.In the time when the mind and culture were tightly controlled by Reformative Party,this maintenance was faced with difficulty.Huang initiatively took the responsibility and found an effective solution:using the tie of kindred relationship and the privacy of family letters to complete the tradition maintenance directed from external to internal.As a result,letter,as a literature form,has become a new method of continuing the literary and moral spirit.